1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical circuit contact, and particularly relates to an electrical circuit contact including a mounting portion adapted for insertion in a plated hole in a circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Circuit board contacts including a mounting portion adapted for insertion in a hole in a circuit board are well known in the prior art and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,004 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,634,819. The first mentioned patent describes a circuit board contact including a mounting portion and a solid, uniform cross section segment at each end of the mounting portion. The mounting portion includes four fins which are bent toward each other when the mounting portion is inserted in a hole in a circuit board. Although the four fins tend to collapse uniformly and accurately locate a central longitudinal axis of the mounting portion, they do not have sufficient resiliency to provide a high retention force for the mounting portion in a circuit board hole. The latter mentioned patent describes a circuit board contact including a mounting portion and solid, uniform cross section segment at each end of the mounting portion. In one embodiment of the contact described in this patent, the mounting portion includes two radial fins which are substantially free for resilient movement toward and away from each other. Although this configuration produces a high retention force when the mounting portion is inserted in a circuit board hole, the outer edges of the two fins which engage the circuit board hole are not sufficient to insure accurate location of the central axis of the mounting portion. In another embodiment of a contact described in this patent, a mounting portion includes three spring members, and a rolled, hollow segment at each end of the mounting portion. The three spring members provide for accurate location of the central axis of the mounting portion, however, the spring members being formed from flat stock and rolled do not have the resiliency of the fin-like structure of the previously described embodiment and do not provide as great a retention force.
The contact of the present invention provides for both accurately locating a central axis of the mounting portion and providing a high retention force for the mounting portion in a circuit board hole by using three resilient fins.